Sam
Crowther

Sam Crowther
was an active businessman and community leader in San Angelo. He
was an ideal person to serve as Scoutmster of the first troop in San Angelo,
TX in 1911. Rice Lynn, a Scout in the the first troop, said
that "Sam Crowther was a disciplinarian but the kids loved him. He
was a fine looking man."

Born
in England

Sam
Crowther was born in England in New-les-Willows, Lancestershire, on August
9, 1862. When he was 7 years old, his father died of hydrophobia,
leaving Sam's mother, Elizabeth, a widow with three sons, of which Sam
was the oldest.

Sam
left home when his mother remarried and went to Liverpool where he sold
papers on the streets. Crowther told the story once, when asked what
he considered his most valuable investment, that when he was selling newspapers
in the winter in Liverpool he would buy two hot potatoes, wrap them in
paper and carry them in his coat pocket. "They gave out wonderful
warmth", he said. "Then when they no longer gave out heat, I could
eat them -- you couldn't beat an investment like that."

At
age 12 he signed on a ship (freighter) as a cabin boy and stayed on the
sea for many years. At age 21 he came to Montreal, Canada, with two
other friends. They all wanted to go on to Australia, but lacking
enough money they took a train to San Antonio in 1883. There they
found work on ranches nearby and proceeded to break wild horses and ride
the range as cowboys.

Town
Named Crowther

He was
married in 1892, to Mary Lavinia Vining, a teacher in Pleasanton, Texas.
By 1900, he was employed by a group of investors in England as superintendent
of a corporation to develop a townsite as a link between San Antonio and
Gulf Coast as an extension of the railroad. Many buildings were built
at the site, but due in part to a lack of water, the project failed.
The town of Crowthers does not exist today except for a few buildings.
In 1968, the state erected a historicalmarker on Farm Road 99 between the
towns of Whitsett and Callihan honoring the town of Sam Crowther.

By
1906, Sam and his wife, and two sons, John and Robert, had moved to San
Angelo, where he bought the Wylie Hardware store. It became Crowther
Hardware and was operated from 1907 to 1922. It was located on Chadbourne
street where is now located the West Texas Utility building
Later, he founded the Crowther Supply Company at 117 Bird street.

During
the time he was in San Angelo, he was a member of the San Angelo School
Board for twelve years, six years as its president, was city alderman and
county parole board chairman. He served as first president and charter
member of the San Angelo Kiwanis Club, a member of the Business Men's Bible
Class, amd taught Sunday school in the First Methodist Church. He
was Worshipful Master of San Angelo Masonic Lodge, president of the Texas
Hardware and Implement Dealer's Association, County Trustee. He was
also president of the San Angelo Rifle Club, signer of the city charter,
and a government volunteer weather observer from 1907 to 1937.

Scouting
Career

In August
of 1911, he was appointed National Committeeman of the American Boy Scouts.
In 1934 he was awarded the Boy Scout Silver Beaver Award for "distinguished
service to boyhood." He stayed active in Scouting over the years.
He was not only the first Scoutmaster in the area but later served as a
merit badge counselor for Seamanship and Weather Merit Badges, was a member
of the Court of Honor and served as troop committeeman for Troop 7, a position
he held at the time he received the Silver Beaver.

Probably
one of his most noted services to boyhood, as stated on the application
for Silver Beaver, was : "For the past 10 years, Mr. Crowther has appeared
before the court in behalf of juvenile delinquents and has accepted hundreds
of boys on probation, making weekly reports to the court as to their conduct."

Text
taken from Panjandrum - A History of Concho Valley Council, 1911-1941,
by Frank T. Hilton, 1990